Event Cohesion and the Illusion of Form
The main reason why the human brain gets tricked into believing in a separate self (aka “ego”) is that it believes in the existence (exist means “to stand out”) of other separate objects. “If THEY exist, so must I!” the mind thinks, and yet it’s just an illusion of Event Cohesion.
What is Event Cohesion?
Event Cohesion is the “stickiness” of an event.
Let’s say we’re walking along and a breeze hits us in the face. We look about and don’t see anything but sky, but we were aware of a brief event in the form of flowing gaseous particles that moved past our face. And the brain created a “form” out of the event and we call it “wind.”
It didn’t have much cohesion, as it doesn’t last long, but it lasted long enough for our brain to make a “thing” out of it. And the thing was important enough for us to create a symbolic sound pattern in the form of the word “wind” so as to communicate it to someone else.
“Windy day today eh?”
“Quite!”
And we move along confident we’ve discussed an event - a thing - with another person, another thing…
And yet, it was the momentary increase in cohesion that separated it from the rest of the air and registered it as an event in our brain. But it was never actually anything but air. It was always a part of the whole, never a separate individual thing, except to our minds.
And we are merely the same. Merely an event with a degree of stickiness, that the mind has turned into a “separate” thing. We even invented a symbolic sound pattern in the form of a name – mine is “Mark” – and now I’m that “thing” separate from other “things.”
And yet, I’m merely a temporary energy event. Not a separate thing at all. Much like the wind, I’m really just the energy of the Big Bang gathering and, if you will, playing with form, with events.
And the degree of cohesion of those events tricks the mind into the idea of “permanence.” Lots of cohesion (say a rock) then it seems more “stable” or “solid” and we feel more confident in calling it a “separate thing” and yet it’s just another Big Bang energy event. Not solid or separate at all. This is why for our sanity and to be in line with the universe (or “with the Tao”) we need to come to grips with the notion of “impermanence.” Impermanence is the truth of all events – all things.
“This too shall pass…”
“And the truth shall set you free…”
Free from what? Free from clinging. Free from attachment to permanence. And permanence, as we have seen, is merely an illusion of Event Cohesion - a trick of the mind.
When we let go of the primary illusion of separateness, of the “little me” and reduce our attachment to the outcome of the event a “lightness” arises in our experience. We feel a space between “us” and the form.
And in that space, we find our Liberation.